


One letter a week to Keep the Doctor working

by CalenderGirl



Series: Robert, Chase and Robert Chase. [3]
Category: House M.D.
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Hurt Robert Chase, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:53:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24677233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalenderGirl/pseuds/CalenderGirl
Summary: Even in this age of e-mails and messages where everything was instantaneous, they still relied on letters to savor the bitter-sweetness of anticipation.
Relationships: Robert Chase & Other(s), Robert Chase/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Robert, Chase and Robert Chase. [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1780249
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	One letter a week to Keep the Doctor working

It was around midnight when Robert walked into his apartment complex. They had a particularly hard case that day, the patient went into cardiac arrest thrice. He had almost given up the third time when the monitor beeped back to life. The hardest part according to Robert about being an intensivist, was the responsibility of making that final call. And when instances like this happen, when patients spring back to life at the last moment when he was about to call the time of death, he would go home and think about all the other patients who would’ve lived had he waited another minute. Today was no different. In fact, he had spent the entire car ride home thinking about the two-year old he had pronounced dead two days ago. Maybe, he would’ve grown up to be a better doctor than him or a singer maybe, or the man to finally cure cancer. 

Robert hated when this happened. He might not be the best diagnostician like House kept reminding him. (House usually went for not a good Doctor). But he was a damn good intensivist, and he knows that. Hell to the stupid patients who come back to life and make him doubt himself. The irony of that thought was not lost in him as he chuckled while opening his mail box. Ever since his mother’s death he has had a toxic relationship with dark humor and pain. Being a critical care doctor did not help that.  
“Neither does working for House or for that matter anywhere near Cameron.” He added to that thought. The latter had a very sensitive moral stand point that often annoyed him. But that just made all the jokes in his head sound funnier whenever she was in the vicinity. Oftentimes she heard his snickers and sent him a judgmental glare as if that would solve everything.

Even though his entire day had been a nightmare, it was about to get better. In his mailbox awaiting him was a letter from his best friend, soul mate, better half, whatever he felt like calling her at the moment, Veronica Xavier. Her letters always bought a tint of happiness to his days. Even in this age of e-mails and messages where everything was instantaneous, they still relied on letters to savor the bitter-sweetness of anticipation.

They had started writing to each other shortly after the first time they met. An incident they jokingly referred to as, “fishing him out the ocean”. At first, he was a little apprehensive. He was writing to a girl he had only met once. So, he kept his letter short and sweet, thanking her for giving him Mr. Giraffe and promising to take good care of him and also asking her if he could share Mr. Giraffe with his siblings. He also added an extra paper at the end of the letter for her father, thanking him for rescuing him (He felt like an idiot for not doing it at spot) and also promising him that he would take care of his daughter’s beloved toy. He addressed that paper to Maxwell Xavier, the name he got from his mother when he asked about the man who brought him home. Surprisingly his mother hadn’t yelled at him or punished him for his mid night adventure. She just asked him to promise to never leave her like that and in return she promised to never drink herself to sleep again. It was fair to say that the promise was not held by either of the parties involved. 

Veronica or as he now calls her Nikki had written back saying she was happy that Mr. Giraffe was being taken care of and that it was completely fine to share him with his siblings. Her own, used to borrow him from time to time and by borrowing she meant hide him in dark places.  
Over the time their correspondence grew, and they started sharing a lot of personal anecdotes with each other. Labeled as insanely private by both their families they opened up to each other through their letters. While Robert was the classic firstborn, shy and private from the first glance type, she was the energetic and athletic only sister of four brothers -Arthur, Harvey, Anthony and William- who had to keep her girly side to herself for her best chances at survival.

He lowered his defenses and told her about his emotional turmoil and the pressure of parental duties towards his siblings and the adrenaline high of academics and his grandmother’s cookie recipe which he stole from her cookbook just for her. In turn, she told him about her brothers and the times when she was left on the tallest branch of trees in the yard. She told him about her Barbie dolls and their new pet dog Marty whom she was scared of. She told him about her experiments with makeup and her adventures of wearing heels. No matter how ridiculous she made it sound he replied with “You must’ve looked like a princess”. Unbeknownst to him those cheesy compliments made her blush and grew her confidence.  
She also told him about her weird Art teacher who always had to hold her hand and guide the lines, while her brothers made fun of her saying she sucked at art, Robert sensed her discomfort, leading to a very awkward conversation with her father over the phone which made the latter choke up and say “What would’ve happened to my daughter without you son.” Robert went to bed that day with happy tears for a change.

Their letters were domestic enough to welcome Robert and conversational enough for Veronica to vent. And to keep that going he watched all the reality shows and bought all the fashion magazines, and she regularly read his favorite scientific journals, comic books and initiated discussions.  
Over the seventeen years since they had met, they had grown up together in distance. They used to meet up a lot too. She used to come visit him in college and play with Richard, playing her long fantasized big sister role. They used to spend vacations together. Mostly with her family in France or with his grandparents. After his mother’s accident and the incidents that followed Veronica had taken a year off school to stay with him in Australia to help him cope. He was forever grateful for that. For he doesn’t even want to think where he would be, was it not for her constant companionship.

Opening her letter Robert left the thoughts of cancer cure inventors and lost patients out and eagerly devoured the latest news from the Paris Fashion Expo she went to.


End file.
